In Dark Souls 1 you're the Chosen Undead tasked with rekindling the First Flame or bringing about the Age of Dark. In Dark Souls 2 you're the Bearer of the Curse, you're drawn to Drangleic by a compulsion to break the undead curse and prevent hollowing. After completing the DLC you actually have a way to prevent hollowing. In Dark Souls 3 you're the Ashen One or Champion of Ash, a failure in a previous time brought back to return the Lords of Cinder to their thrones. You can attempt to link the Fire, let it fade or usurp it's power as the Dark Lord.

Totally agree and it was quite refreshing and made it more believable as well.

The real story was a very personal story but it used larger stories of the conflicts and other forces as backdrops. They weren't really the focus for example the War and the Wild Hunt really was secondary. I didn't really care that much about it.

The story really was of two adoptive parents going to the ends of the world to find their adoptive daughter. Those who read the books knows how much more Ciri means to both Geralt and Yen than any other couple. I literally cried at the mist mission as well as the reunion at Keah Morhen.

Probably my most defining RPG since FFVII. Even the box came with maps and extras like old school and it's heavy. Anyone remember those old 2-4 disc sets of content? Like the Resident Evil 2 disc set with Leon, Claire and Ada kinda awesome.

Couldn't agree more. The gameworld in the The Witcher 3 takes pains to show the player that their choices aren't black and white; there isn't a paragon/renegade system for making decisions. In a breath of fresh air for gaming, basically all of Geralt's (the players') decisions fall into the shades of grey category. I think it helps that the game is based on a series of novels that have a very well-established history, narrative, and lore. In so many ways, the world that gamers get to inhabit in Wild Hunt really has existed for a long time without them; there are political, cultural, magical, and mundane struggles that have been going for years and years for just about everyone you encouter. As the player pursues Geralt's ultimate goals throughout the story, he/she gets a sense that they're wandering into and out of conflicts that have been going on all around them and that will likely continue when they're gone, all quest completions aside. While it's clear that we have an effect as Geralt, it's also clear that we're not the only force driving events. That's rare for games, and I think goes a long way towards making the world more believable.